A cry break is a vocal break in a tone or note in a song. It is characteristic in the singing tone of Hank Williams where a note seems to break and start over again. There are notes that the singer sounds near to the point of starting to cry. It is a technique that is used in country singing. S ongs that deal with the issues of sorrow and loss are likely to contain cry breaks.
Famous quotes containing the words cry and/or break:
“At the earliest ending of winter,
In March, a scrawny cry from outside
Seemed like a sound in his mind.
He knew that he heard it,
A bird’s cry, at daylight or before,
In the early March wind.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“If a joyous elephant should break forth into song, his lay would probably be very much like Whitman’s famous “Song of Myself.” It would have just about as much delicacy and deftness and discrimination.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)